Closure for hoppers and the like



Feb. 10, 1948. ,'M BUEHLER 2,435,670

CLOSURE FOR HOPPERS'AND THE LIKE Filed May 5, 1945 lrraelvfxs PatentedFeb. 10, 1948 TAT-ES PATENT OFFICE QL QQKEF- l. HOPPEES D ilH JKE AllanMoyer Buehler, Preston, Ontario, Canada, as'signo'r to Eastern Steel"Products Limited, Rreston, Qntarig,' Canada, -acompany of flanaoa eelieatignll er 4 1945, 1.5%?! N 5%??5 times detracts from the entirelysmoothopera:

tion'oi the cover.

Ifhe'se disadvantages are avoided by the pres,- ent invention.

It -is therefore an object of the present imam: t t-ion to provide ahopper cover of :the swinging type which is simple in construction andwhich will be Water-tight whenclosed.

A further object of the invention is to prpyige a structure of this kindwhereby the cover,

swungto open position, will avoid any h kh slots between the coverand-the hopper ng in which the cover will in effect rm a ilfi al assist:in the introduction Lo f; material to the- 1549p,- vper.

A further object of the i ve tignis to ptovigle a structure of this.kind which may "be? 913 P- and los d end ma 1;

flahe -teeve il l ah ihew iheeh 1. .7 .me tih deei 9 he uide the mevilet rigie vof thecover treeloilthe upper (lee. ofj'the hop r he: ele-etiohe the heeh w th ehe eteheehihigure 2 i a. siev e e ahieh .Q the.hemeer vw th t hetee ehehehi fi lhfi firi t e ehe heiheleeeheh :eeh theueh the hopper with the cover 016 4 Glaims. (Cl. 220-34) if ehre i i es m lar V w to Figure 3 h e peer eh'eh euj eh Jean ehleeeed he elevatione .to ti h r hehqmal r- L'E 'e fi es s d ie evetieh e e cover shewhe un.,zhei hhh ihe eerr edthereb ure-Z he hlhh v ew e the eever l s t Fi r .8is, eh...eh e eeele ,e ev e e of thehihee bee. 1 he aihe Why in dotted srel'at e positions f f thelhinge pins in various posit Je the ce've n ee'eel e' e e position- R i vin to th ,relwihee A zihd e e the p-- leeras ,e whq e'wh ihe l e 'a b s heer L h s eeYer ,i$,- to t e m h m andrear flhhe ehd 1, an si e eh Pll to th f t; het th beeper illustrated isd t e e -lie be hi es h en'ihe e h flange 1,3. is l kewise inclined asillustrated termcumny iii'riguresmna 4. It is obvious, of

co irse, from this iil'lat when the cover is closed the "the e hemie l.li 'f em ei Sealed end ehi' eli e t e er ha i ills'lll qn' e er w heehcl t thes eyer withoht boss of it ense s r be rehueehheethe he movement1 th eeven .1 pre,..' .h. l d.h l ih therefor in the form ofhra etsj I 5winch are steppe as illlustrateginjfigp '5, inquiri g amounting plate rfi ee efhe teh lihe ehes tie th si e of h e her a e 9ol mqllht l 'e'eheh Offset m h ihehh ih nee eh leh eed from e 1 25 vt l e c el esl eeehtethe m i e fleheee Mlqfth covert The xnountingsection of the bracketsIS inclgcles a straight {inclined slofila and a curved,

fiamelikesloF-ISdispOsed' above the slot [8 and having two oonnectingsect-ions 20 and 2| forming aico ntinuous pathpf travel forthe pin ofthe ee'v r vree yehl t e n.

"The cover is provided with the spaced apart parallel mounting pins'2-2and-23 which are prefheme carried oh' 'a' braket il which is riveted orotherwise secured on each end of the ,cover tothe'flanggs 1 H."Thelpinsi? and 23 are designed-to enter respectively the slots l8 and ils that; in the'noi'inal closed position of the cov 'pihs 22 aredisposed at the rearward end of the slot l8 and pihs'zti are disposed'inthe lower ekti e nit'y of the section 20 qt -slot. l9.

As will be noted; the brackets 15 project -upwarc lly at aninclineto-therear wall of the hopper and the rear edges of these brackets aredisposeo beyond the reariace of the hopper so thatthe piri-2 2 islocated behind the-rear "wall of the hopper'at-a distance at least asgreat as the depth of the rear flange-below the top of the cover when itis in aclosed position. Similarly, the brackets 24 carrying-the-pins 22and 23 are lgl i s po'sed partially to projectfi'earwardly oi? thehinged constructions. open, acts as a convenient guide to some of the.material as it is being discharged into the hopcover. Thus, when thecover is swung upwardly from closed position, it will first ofall pivoton the pins 22, while the pins 23 swing freely through the section 20 ofslot l9. However, when the pins 23 reach the point of juncture of thesections 20' and 2! of slot I9 and engage the cam-like edge 25 thereof,this will cause the pins 22 to move forwardly in the inclined slots 18.However, as this operation is occurring, namely, movement of the pins 23to the point of juncture of the sections 20 and 2| of slot IS, therearward flange i3 of the cover has been passed substantially to thelevel of the rearward wall of the hopper. Consequently, as the pins 22move forwardly in the inclined slot l8 and the pins 23 then movedownwardly in section 2| of the slot l9, the flange l3 of the cover willbe moved forwardly to overlap the upper edge of the rear wall of thehopper, so that the cover is finally disposed at a rearward incline, tothe rearward wall of the hopper and the plane of the upper end of thehopper, and

- will be supported in this position. Consequently,

the flange i3 overlapping the upper edge of the rear wall of the hopperin effect forms a cover plate for the upper edge of this wall andprovides a guide to direct material to the hopper, when the latter isbeing filled, if such material happens to be directed against the innerface of the cover. As a result, therefore, no slot or opening is formed,between the cover and the rear wall of the hopper, when the cover isopen, and thus there can be no loss of material as generally occursthrough the slot or opening which usually is formed there in the case ofa normally hinged cover.

I prefer to place the cover under spring pressure as this contributes toa particularly smooth operation of the cover from its closed to openposition and vice versa. One manner in which this spring pressure may beapplied is by providing the pressure applying rods 26 at each end of thehopper, the rod being formed with an eyelet or the like 21 designed toloopover the pins 22. The other end of the rod passing through anorificed bracket 28 fastened on each end of the hopper is designed tobe-engaged by a coil spring 29 which exerts pressure between the bracket28 and a stop member such as a washer rigidly fastened on the rods'26.Consequently, when the cover is closed, pressure is applied through therods 26 against the pins 22 which, on the one hand, extends to hold thecover closed and, on the other hand, provides a pressure on pins 22 suchas to assure a smooth operation as the cover is swung from the closed toopen position and vice versa. In swinging the cover to open position,the rods 26 tend to assure that the pins 22 remain at the upper end ofthe slot i8 until the pins 23 engage the cam-like edge 25 of the slotI9, at which point the pins 22 are then caused to move forwardly in theinclined slots l8 and the rods 26 slide in the bracket 28 compressingthe coil spring 23 as shown in Figure 2.

It will be apparent thatthis cover construction will operate efficientlyand will seal the hop- -per completely, when closed, preventing the en-.trance'of water or the like to the hopper, whereas, when open, the rearflange completely overlaps the upper edge of the rear wall of the hopperto avoid any formation of an opening along this upper edge which usuallyoccurs in normally Thus, the cover, when per, while avoiding loss ofsome of the materia which occurs in ordinary hinged constructions. WhatI claim as my inventionis:

1. In a closure'means for hoppers and the like, a cover member havingfront and rear flanges designed to overhang the upper edges of thehopper, brackets rigidly mounted on opposed sides of said cover anddesigned to project beyond said rear flange, a pair of spaced apart pinsprojecting laterally outwardly from the sides of the projecting portionsof each of said brackets, guide bracket members rigidly mounted onopposed sides of said hopper, each having a pair of spaced apart guidemeans therein designed cooperatively to engage said pins on said cover,said pins moving in said guide means upon lifting of said cover,'one ofsaid guide means extending generally forward from a point located behindsaid rear wall at a distance at least as great as the depth of said rearflange below the top of said closed cover, the other of said guide meanshaving a section concentric with said rearmost point of said firstmentioned guide means and a section extending toward said firstmentioned guide means, said guide means engaging said pins such thatwhen said cover is raised from a closed position one of said pins willpivot in the rearmost portion of said first mentioned guide means whilethe other pin is guided around said concentric section of said secondmentioned guide means to cause said rear flange to swing to a heightabove the back edge of said hopper, said second mentioned pin beingdesigned to enter the non-concentric section of said second mentionedguide means when said back flange is raised above said back edge apredetermined amount to cause each of said pins to move generallyforward in their respective guide means simultaneously to position saidrear flange over the upper edge of said rear wall when said cover isfully open.

2. In a closure means for hoppers and the like, a cover member havingfront and rear flanges designed to overhang the upper edges ofthehopper, brackets rigidly mounted on opposed sides of said cover anddesigned to project beyond said rear flange, a pair of spaced apart pinsprojecting laterally outwardly from the sides of the projecting portionsof each of said brackets, guide bracket members rigidly mounted onopposed sides of said hopper, a pair of slots in each of said guidebrackets designed cooperatively to receive said pins, one slot beingpositioned above the other, the lower slot extending forwardly anddownwardly from a point located behind said rear Wall at a distance atleast as great as the depth of said rear flange below the top of saidcover when closed, the upper slot having a section concentric with saidrearmost point in said lower slot and a section inclined towards saidlower slot extending toward said lower slot, said guide bracket membersengaging said pins such that when said cover is raised from a closedposition one of said pinswill pivot in the rearmost portion ,of saidlower slot while the other pin is guided 3. In a closure for hoppers asclaimed in claim 2, the inclusion of a spring means designed to bearREFERENCES CITED against the pin in said lower Slot to urge it Thefollowing references are of record in the wards the rear portion of saidslot for the purfile of this patent: pose of efiecting a smoother coveroperation. 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 4. In a closure for hoppers asclaimed 1n claim 2, the inclusion of a rod connected at one end toNumber Name Date the pin disposed in said lower slot, a bracket 620,572Dletz 1899 member on the hopper slidably receiving the Carter June 1906opposite end of said rod and spring means act- 10 1,101,521 'f June 1914ing on said rod to exert a pressure against said 2,053,796 Kelth etSept- 1936 pin.

ALLAN MOYER BUEHLER.

